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Author
Topic: today im asking for help (Read 2275 times)

over the past year i've been locked in jail, baker acted for an overdose, three suicide attempts. its not like this is a new thing either, i've battled depression and anxiety to one degree or another since middle school. one by one i've destroyed every relationship i've ever had. sexual addiction. abused, abusive. scars from burns and cuts over the years like a timeline to my breakdowns. aids is new to my scene, but no big surprise.

today i tried to schedule a psychological evaluation, it'll take weeks for that, with a huge deductable. i also called an ASO for the first time, willing to consider any help they give. i know i'm not coping well, cracks are noticable. i don't want to play the doctor, but c'mon i'm bipolar 1 please just give me seroquel depakote and paxil, it worked once lets try it again ... send me on my way and hope for the best

i feel like the only mental health care i get is emergency help when i've messed up, then i'm treated like a fkn prisoner.

Hi Zach, that whole scenario sounds dreadful and potentially dangerous. I see you live in Atlanta. Is there not a more "HIV clinic" set up there that integrates mental health services? The three suicide attempts were all in the past year? Did you not discuss those with any mental health professional after each attempt or what exactly? I suspect you've also not discussed much of this with your HIV doctor or else they would have been more insistent on, at least, getting proper bipolar treatment to you -- is this the case? Or have they just not been responding to your discussions if you've actually initiated them?

I hope your ASO can help you with local services, that's what they're supposed to do. I've certainly known many people in such situations as yours who pull through, but it can take a lot of work and the patient has to ultimately stay on top of it making it difficult. Best of luck.

I would recommend being more pro-active with your attempts as described. Instead of waiting for call backs and getting no answer, etc. don't wait on this ASO. Go ASAP to their physical offices and wait until they have you see a case manager face to face -- describe what you've related here and they should expedite things and hook you up. The fact that you haven't progressed from your hospital doctor to something better where more things are discussed when you know you have these mental health issues isn't going to work.

I just called that number and got a recording, but it does sound wrong. I would go to 341 Ponce De Leon AvenueAtlanta, GA 30308 and fish around for answers. The CNN article is recent, as in five days ago, so they have to be somewhere. Sorry, but we don't live in Atlanta so we can only be so much help for you with local stuff. Atlanta is almost as large as the metro area where I live, so there has to be integrated HIV clinics there, more than one.

i know the resources are there, i just don't know what all is available but i'm going in with an open mind. either i find a way to work this out, or i'm gonna go off meds and travel RTW until my time comes due